Under 14's

Handsworth RUFC

Fixtures

Yardley & District U14's 0 - 42 Handsworth U14's

On the coldest day of the year so far Handsworth were again on the road and were hot from the start.

With Yardley & District receiving Handsworth kicked off the first half. Thanks to great chasing the forwards regained possession from the kick and rampaged down field towards the line with only a desperate tackle from the Yardley & District fullback stopping a try. Only 2 minutes later from a strong scrum Adam Bell fed the ball out to the waiting Handsworth backs who got it through the hands and out to Connor McKenzie for his first try for the season. (SCORE 0-5)

Again Handworth took control from kick off and a great spell of pressure and several phases got the ball out to winger Jack Perry who went off on a great run. Further pressure on the Yardley defence put the ball out for a lineout. As like last week Handsworth line misfired but still managed to steal plenty of opposition ball, a good maul worked down the pitch with captain and no.8 Ryan Lillie breaking from the back to go over for the score (SCORE 0-10).

The Game was only 15 minutes old but Handsworth were already showing that they are gelling as a team with great interchange play between players. From a Yardley knock on Handsworths pack, with Mandip Shergill back after injury, again dominated the tight. At this point Handsworth had won all scrums pushing the opposition all over the park and Yardley & District were retreating quicker than the French so it was agreed, in the interest of safety, to go to uncontested scrums.

From some aggressive counter rucking from Alex Watts and Bobby Denerio a great bit of skill and direct running from both Reece Jones and Ben Whatley insured that Handsworth again went through the Yardley line like a hot knife through butter. A good offload from Jake Laringer to Ryan Lillie put him in space only for good defence to stop the rampaging Handsworth captain from adding to his total. From the ruck 2^nd rower Tarik Quo picked up and charged for the line and powered over in the corner. Reece Jones converted from a tight angle (SCORE 0-17)

Handsworth had confidence running through their system and were all ball hungry with try fever taking hold which resulted in some sloppy defending and gaps appearing in the Handsworth line. A period of Yardley & District pressure got them towards the line but a great tackle from Aaron Shergill turned position over to Handsworth and a kick up field was chased with the Yardley fullback taking control and putting the ball out of play for half time. (HALF TIME 0-17)

With instructions to stop over committing at the break down and try fever cured Handsworth were ready to build on their first half display. Yardley kicked off the second half and put pressure on the Handsworth receiver but a good defensive mall got the ball protected and again Handsworth trundled down the pitch using their superior strength to build the platform for the backs to run through a couple of planned moves which put Connor McKenzie over for his 2^nd try (SCORE 0-22).

A period of 10 minutes saw Handsworth score more points. Firstly a great tap penalty got the ball to Mandip Shergill and he bulldozed over for another first score (SCORE 0-27)

The next breakdown was a lineout at which ball was taken on by Alex Watts who made 20 yards and was almost over the line when a huge tackle stopped him and sent him shuddering backwards. As Handsworth kept up their battering of the Yardley & District line another score looked ominous and was only a short time in coming with Ryan Lillie flopping over for his 2^nd (SCORE 0-32).

Tired legs from 50 minutes of defending meant that Yardley were leaving gaps which Handsworth were keen to exploit with Jack Perry, Reece Jones and Bobby Denerio testing the defence. From a kick down field from Handsworths Fly half a knock on gave them a scrum about 8 metres out. Adam Bell, at scrum half, picked up at the back and snipped down the blindside and over for the try (SCORE 0-37).

There was still time for one more score and Jake Laringer went through 4 or 5 tackles and touched down with the conversion missed the referee blew for the final whistle (FINAL SCORE 0-42)

Match Comment - Last weeks win has built some confidence and understanding - tackling is slowing improving and a clean sheet shows that the team is developing well. Greed understandably crept in today but we will need to be more unselfish against more experienced opposition.

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